It was another lady who loved him very much and wanted to marry him, and that was why he ran away to Africa.

But now she is dead and buried." "Are all women in England called Barbara, Jeekie ?" "Yes, O Asika, Barbara means woman." "If your lord loved this Barbara, why then did he run away from her?
Well, it matters not since she is dead and buried, for whatever their spirits may feel, no man cares for a woman that is dead until she clothes herself in flesh again.

That was a good vision and I will reward you for it." "I have earned nothing, O Asika," answered Jeekie modestly, "who only tell you what I see as I must.

Yet, O Asika," he added with a note of anxiety in his voice, "why do you not read these magic writings for yourself ?" "Because I dare not, or rather because I can not," she answered fiercely.

"Be silent, slave, for now the power of the good broods upon my soul." The dream went on.